


Snuggles

by kooili



Category: Holby City
Genre: Cuddling & Snuggling, F/F, Fluff, Weekly Berena Fix
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-02
Updated: 2019-01-02
Packaged: 2019-10-02 20:48:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,115
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17270876
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kooili/pseuds/kooili
Summary: Serena finally gets home after a long shift.





	Snuggles

Half past eleven. 

Serena blinks, checking the time displayed above the nurses’ station again. Surely that can’t be right, she thinks, because, wasn’t it just an hour ago that she spoke to Bernie, promising that she’d leave the moment she finished replying to Hanssen’s email?

Yes, there was that brief detour to bay three, after Morven chapped on the office door moments later asking for a second opinion. The patient, as it turned out, had nothing more than a case of severe indigestion from eating too much cheese. The diagnosis took substantially longer than it should have. Serena winces, recalling the lengthy monologue the patient embarked on when he was asked to describe what he had eaten over the past day. She left Morven to dispense the usual antacids and nod politely at the continuous ramble while she escaped quietly back to the office to collect her things. 

She had barely pulled her scarf around her neck when Raf appeared next, a tablet in hand and a frown on his face. 

“Her RBCs are low and she’s been complaining of tenderness under her ribs but I can’t find anything on the scans. Can you take a look and tell me that I’m not missing anything obvious?”

And so it went and she now finds herself, hours late, finally going home. She walks purposefully, making a beeline for the double doors of the ward, avoiding any sideways glances or eye contact lest it lead to being delayed yet again.

“Ms Campbell?” Fletch calls out, just as she has one hand against the metal surface. 

Serena stops and sighs before turning round to find the nurse striding across the ward.

“Is anyone dead, Mr Fletcher?” 

He pulls short and stops, confused. “What? No.”

Serena waves a hand wearily at the folder in his hand. “And is that urgent?”

He shakes his head. “But I thought you might want to take a look at...”

She cuts him off with a sigh. “Then it can wait till tomorrow. I should have been home hours ago. The wife’s going to forget what I look like if I keep staying late.”

Fletch grins, holding his hands up in a gesture of surrender. “Fair enough. Give Bernie a big kiss for me,” he adds cheekily, ignoring the fond glare on Serena’s face as she nudges the door open.

The journey home passes in a haze, Serena driving on autopilot, and she soon pulls up next to their house. Her lips quirks into a smile - Bernie had, as usual, taken a spot by the road, leaving the driveway free for her.

Typical of her to anticipate that Serena would be later than she initially promised. A moment later, car parked and locked, she enters the house, pushing the front door open with a shoulder. The hall is dimly lit, a small lamp left on by the door, but the rest of the downstairs is dark and quiet. She closes the door as quietly as she can and disposes of her coat, scarf and bag in their usual places. 

Bernie must have gone to bed, not surprising, she thinks, clicking the lamp off before making her way up the stairs. Between opposite shifts and Bernie being away on a last minute conference, they had hardly seen each other over the past week. A quick kiss was all they managed as they passed each other in the hallway too many hours ago. Bernie looked weary, tired lines creasing her face, strands of blonde silk falling loose from the short ponytail she usually wore at work. Suddenly, all Serena wants to do, more than anything else, is to run her fingers through those golden curls.

The bedroom door is slightly ajar and Serena can just about make out, as she approaches, a figure sprawled across one side of the bed. Her fingers reach for and remove her earrings dropping them onto her bedside table. Bernie is fast asleep and snoring lightly but Serena can’t help reaching down and brushing a stray strand of hair, tucking it round the shell of her ear. 

Something shifts next to the sleeping figure, on her side of the bed, and Serena shifts her attention towards it. The cream white ball of fur, curled up like a danish, yawns and squints up at her. 

“I see someone’s been allowed to sleep in the bed tonight,” Serena whispers, stroking the soft fur just behind his ears. The cat uncurls himself and purrs, rubbing his face into her hand. “How’s my little man? Been keeping my side of the bed warm, eh?”

The purring increases in volume and she gets a wet nose nuzzled against her palm before Moriarty leaps off the bed and retreats into a corner of the room to begin licking his flank.

Serena smiles fondly as she peels off her layers of work clothes before slipping on the pyjamas she had left crumpled in a pile on the armchair next to the bed. Serena climbs into bed and wraps an arm gently on Bernie’s waist and the sleepy figure responds by making a tiny sound of approval. 

“You’re home.” Bernie’s voice is thick with sleep. “Emergency at work?”

Serena shakes her head and sighs. “Got caught up with the usual. Nothing exciting, darling. It’s been a long, long day.”

Bernie’s eyes are open by now, smiling sleepily at her wife. “In that case, come here..,”

Serena is about to pull Bernie in tighter and lean in for a kiss when a something heavy lands on her midsection. A squeaky meow signals his intention, demanding attention.

“Not you, Moriarty,” Bernie says, ruffling the fur between the pink-tipped ears before pushing him gently off the bed. “Time for humans to snuggle.” Their lips meet and Serena’s tongue detects the tingle of toothpaste laced with a familiar taste that can only be described as Bernie. She remembers the way Bernie ducked her head, cheeks flushed in embarassed delight the first time Serena explained it to her.

_ Chocolate and honeycomb.  _

Serena drops her head into the space between Bernie’s arms and chest, a place she fits perfectly, almost like it’s been created especially for her. “Snuggles,” she agrees before letting her eyelids droop shut, lulled by the gentle rise and fall of the warm body next to her. The mattress dips and undulates as small paws pad across its surface. The familiar purr starts up again and vibrates along her side, Moriarty testing out the terrain before choosing a spot between them to sink into. 

Their hands reach simultaneously for his back. Bernie murmurs sleepily, “Do you want me to shut him out?”

Serena shakes her head, yawning. “He’ll behave. Family snugs tonight.”


End file.
